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Monroe, NC -- A missing North Carolina teen's school is offering a $25,000 reward for her safe return after she disappeared in Maryland.

Union Academy in Monroe is offering the reward for the next three months after 17-year-old honor student Phylicia Barnes disappeared last month while visiting her older half-siblings in Baltimore for the holidays.

The reward money comes from the Phil Hargett Memorial Fund, created last year after a charity auction. The fund was designed to help students at Union Academy in financial need.

Officials at the public charter school say the committee that runs the fund decided the biggest need for its students right now is the safe return of their classmate.